VIDEO - Bali volcano: Thousands evacuated, travel advisory issued as Mt Agung threatens to erupt - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Updated September 23, 2017 14:55:25

Australia has issued a new travel advisory for Bali as experts warn the island's enormous volcano, Mt Agung, could erupt soon.

Hundreds of tremors each day are shaking the volcano, and the region's leading vulcanologist has said the probability of an eruption is increasing by the day.

Indonesian authorities raised the alert level for the volcano to the highest level, meaning an eruption could be imminent.

It was the third time in little more than a week that the alert level was raised.

The Department of Meteorology, Climate and Geophysics said there has been a "tremendous increase" in the mountain's seismic activity, though it could not give a timeframe.

Dr Devy Kamil Syahbana has said tourists should be ready to change their plans if the volcano erupts.

The most likely initial impact of a big eruption is the closure of the island's airport.

Perth woman Edwina Salazar was travelling to Bali on Saturday with her twin five-year-old boys.

She said the decision to fly was something she weighed.

"Obviously when there's a warning that's put out in regards to any particular natural disaster it's very concerning," she said.

"Hopefully it's all fairly premature and Agung will just continue to rumble away as it does, we'll just have to cross our fingers and hope everything stays OK."

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said tourists to Bali should reconfirm their trips with their airlines and tour operators.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said some 9,400 villagers have evacuated from their houses, and were scattered in 50 shelters in the districts of Karangasem, Klungkung and Buleleng.

The agency said no residents or tourists should be within 9 kilometres of the crater and within 12 kilometres to the north, north-east, south-east and south-south-west.

Mt Agung has not erupted yet and flights to Bali are not affected but an exclusion zone around the volcano is already affecting tours and trekking groups.

Seismic monitoring equipment on the volcano recorded 676 tremors on Thursday caused by lava pushing through layers of rock deep beneath the mountain, and in one six-hour period on Friday morning there were another 178 tremors.

Dr Syahbana, the head of volcano mitigation for eastern Indonesia, said the tremors were coming from inside the volcano.

"Our data shows the number of earthquakes is still increasing, which shows that the magma has very huge energy," he said.

"It means we have to be alert to the situation but we don't need to panic."

He said the earthquakes themselves were evidence of the potential eruption.

"Magma is pushing to all directions, finding the softest path," he said.

"At the moment when the magma succeeds to go in a certain path, it creates an earthquake — it opens the path to go to the surface.

Dr Syahbana is monitoring Mt Agung from an observation station about 12km from the volcano's crater.

He said it was impossible to predict the size of the Agung eruption, if it erupted.

The volcano has not erupted since 1963, when about 1,000 people died.

Dr Syahbana said that eruption was a 5 on the Volcano Explosivity Index (VEI) — a massive eruption that is far bigger than any recent eruptions in Indonesia.

The explosions on Mt Sinabung earlier this year only rated a VEI of 2, Dr Syahbana said.

He said tourists could still come to Bali, but they must be ready if anything changed.

"If something is changing, you need to be prepared for that," he said.

"We're not even sure this volcano will erupt. It's possible for the magma to be exhausted and for this crisis to end. That's the possibility we're hoping for."

ABC/Wires

Topics:volcanic-eruption, travel-health-and-safety, bali, indonesia

First posted September 22, 2017 17:07:05

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-22/mt-agung-bali-volcanoo-thousands-evacuated-amid-eruption-fears/8976224